Stolen luxury watch returned to Tokyo store via courier with apology note

A luxury wristwatch stolen from a watch shop at a shopping complex in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward last week was later returned to the store via a delivery service, accompanied by a handwritten note of apology, investigative sources said Monday.

Tokyo police are searching for the suspect, who fled with the watch.

According to police and other sources, the theft occurred at around 8 p.m. on Thursday at a watch shop on the Nakano Broadway complex’s third floor.

A man tried on a luxury Audemars Piguet watch worth about ¥46 million ($292,000) and then fled with it. Two store employees were present at the time and neither was injured.

The watch was returned to the store via a courier on Sunday morning. After checking its serial number, staff confirmed that it was the stolen item.

The package had been sent from Aichi Prefecture and contained a handwritten note expressing an apology.

A name and address were also written on the package, but police believe the information is false.

In a separate incident at the same shopping complex in August, four luxury watches with a combined retail value of about ¥200 million were stolen from another shop on the first floor. Two Chilean nationals were arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with the incident and subsequently indicted.